On Feb. 4, Gov. Jeff Landry requested federal help to recover from the January 23–27 storm that brought ice accumulation, power and water outages, dangerously low temperatures and significant damage to infrastructure. He requested the federal government pick up all the costs for 30 days and asked for additional financial assistance for resilience projects to protect against future winter weather threats.
State agencies already spent $11,394,461, which meets the threshold for a disaster declaration. Landry requested federal help for Bienville, De Soto, East Carroll, Franklin, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, and West Carroll parishes, primarily in northeast Louisiana.
Trump authorized some services before the storm, but he needs to sign the declaration for the full funding to flow to Louisiana.
In a letter to Trump, Louisiana’s delegation painted a dire picture of the storm’s impact on North Louisiana.
“At its peak, the storm left over 175,000 residential customers without power. The ice shut down Interstate 20 and numerous state highways for several days. Widespread power outages and damage to water systems resulted in 32,487 customers completely without water. Up to 187,359 residents were placed under Boil Water Advisories,” they wrote.
The letter continued: “We thank you for your swift emergency declaration for Louisiana issued on January 24 and eagerly await your response.”
Rep. Julia Letlow, who is from Start and whose district includes North Louisiana, wrote a letter to constituents saying, “this was very personal to me, as my roots lie in northeast Louisiana and my parents lost power themselves.”
“While most families have had their power turned back on, the storm created significant damage that won’t go away overnight,” Letlow said.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy , R-Baton Rouge, told reporters that a governor must make the initial expedited major disaster declaration. Now is the time for the delegation to contact the president and FEMA to make sure it happens.
Cassidy said he also has requested extensions for filing income taxes and penalty waivers so Louisiana taxpayers can focus on recovery rather than getting their taxes in on time.
“Winter Storm Fern may be over, but we in Louisiana are still dealing with the aftermath,” Cassidy said. “I keep going to it because it is so compelling.”
Letlow is running to unseat Cassidy from his seat in the U.S. Senate.
The delegation also asked Trump to include FEMA individual assistance grants that provide money for some cleanup costs and expenses, like medical care and hotel stays, related to the disaster. Landry didn’t include that in his request.
Along with Cassidy and Letlow, the letter to Trump was signed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-Madisonville; Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton; House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson; Reps Troy Carter Sr., D-New Orleans; Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge; and Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette.
Louisiana’s is one of 15 “Declaration Requests” currently being processed at FEMA , two of which are on appeal, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s daily briefing. The requests date back to November 26.
An Associated Press analysis in September calculated an average wait of 34 days for the two dozen or so major disaster declarations since Trump took office a second time in January. That’s four times longer than the early 1990s and the average 26 days under former President Joe Biden.
The 51,500 recipients of food stamps – now called SNAP for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – from Caldwell, DeSoto, East Carroll, Jackson, Ouachita, Red River, Richland, and West Carroll parishes are receiving an additional 20% in their January benefits, which was added to their EBT cards Wednesday, Louisiana Health Department Secretary Bruce Greenstein announced.
Additionally, the U.S. Small Business Administration is offering businesses loans to aid recovery for residents from West Carroll Parish south to Concordia Parish , and west to the Bossier and Caddo parishes, Landry said.
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